Tag Archives: silence

The arrogance of having a blog is thinking you should have something to say. Sometimes you don’t but wish you did.

Our political world has moved so quickly: in one day we watch a Prime Minister leave, a new one move in and a zip-wiring former Mayor of London become our new Foreign Secretary – one of the great offices of State.

Twitter and Facebook are incredulous. Do I get angry, do I find a snide comment, do I encourage Christians to pray (as I probably ought to), do I remember all the damaged lives that still need championing?

Or, more sensibly, do I let the wiser words of the Psalmist speak? After all, when I am lost for words, the Word can speak wonders and wisdom.

Psalm 62

1 Truly my soul finds rest in God;my salvation comes from him.2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;he is my fortress, I shall never be shaken.

3 How long will you assault me?Would all of you throw me down –this leaning wall, this tottering fence?4 Surely they intend to topple mefrom my lofty place;they take delight in lies.With their mouths they bless,but in their hearts they curse.

5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God;my hope comes from him.6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;he is my fortress, I shall not be shaken.7 My salvation and my honour depend on God;he is my mighty rock, my refuge.8 Trust in him at all times, you people;pour out your hearts to him,for God is our refuge.

9 Surely the lowborn are but a breath,the highborn are but a lie.If weighed on a balance, they are nothing;together they are only a breath.10 Do not trust in extortionor put vain hope in stolen goods;though your riches increase,do not set your heart on them.

11 One thing God has spoken,two things I have heard:‘Power belongs to you, God,12 and with you, Lord, is unfailing love’;and, ‘You reward everyoneaccording to what they have done.’

Paul Vallely has published a blog post – here – called ‘What Jimmy Savile did to me as a young man’ about a different kind of abuse perpetrated by the TV presenter.

He tells how Savile was protected by his status as an entertainer with the apparent ear of people like Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Vallely writes: “The Seventies and Eighties were still, for all the social revolution of the Sixties, an age of deference. As a schoolboy I was once punished by a priest teacher who made me lie spread-eagled on the floor. He then walked over my fingers. When I told my mother of this many decades later she looked astonished and asked why I had not told her at the time.”

To speak out or protest singled you out as a troublemaker. In my school one of the woodwork teachers would make the class stand with their hands on the workbench … and would then throw chisels between your fingers, with an order to put your hand back if you moved it.

Another master would patrol the classroom and flick the bra straps of teenage girls if they couldn’t answer his questions.

The creativity of God and the genius of Rob Lacey collided very powerfully in a nursing home today when just a few of us shared worship.

When I go into the chapel in this home, there are only a handful of us. Some don’t appear to be connected to this world until we get to the Lord’s Prayer when the volume suddenly increases. Others tell me how much they have been anticipating my visit – they are one of my churches and one which appreciates creativity even though we only have about 20 minutes before sleep and other distractions get in the way.

Today, as well as singing hymns, we listened to the Creation story from Genesis 1 as told by Rob Lacey from his live performance of the Street Bible/Word on the Street. Then, after listening to Cathy Burton’s gorgeous version of the song Indescribable, we thought for as few minutes of the importance of resting. Surely, if even God chose to take a day out, it matters. Even the residents of the nursing home, who you might think have nothing to do all day, recognised that there’s a difference between not working and actually resting; especially resting in God.

Ask yourself, when did you last have a sabbath? When did you last just stop, completely cease from activity and take time to be with God in stillness and silence?

For some of us, Sunday is the last possible day to do that. It’s just stupidly busy. But the principle of Sabbath isn’t the same as observing the Lord’s day if by that you mean Sunday and if on Sunday you are any kind of church leader. Many of us finish a Sunday more exhausted than we began it. That’s no kind of Sabbath.

When God completed the business of Creation he stood back and declared it good. Then he stopped and rested. He was confident enough in what he had done to leave it alone for a period. Why shouldn’t we be the same?